


【听海】

by pxtrichor



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Flash Fiction, Implied Character Death, M/M, Modern Magic, happy birthday minghao!, nymph minghao, sea fairy?, sorry mingyu, this was supposed to be 97 line but it ran away with me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:41:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27756304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pxtrichor/pseuds/pxtrichor
Summary: Write back and tell me, what color is the sea today? How do the waves feel, knowing they can be with you while I can’t? I can only picture them in my mind’s eye as unfeeling grey, a silent shade revealing nothing. Or a melancholy blue, but maybe that’s just because of how much I miss you.The man from the sea comes on a Monday night, sand sticking to his skin glistening like gold.
Relationships: Lee Seokmin | DK/Xu Ming Hao | The8, past Lee Seokmin | DK/Kim Mingyu
Comments: 7
Kudos: 21
Collections: November 2020 Birthday Challenge





	【听海】

The man from the sea comes on a Monday night, the sand sticking to his skin glistening like gold.

“Hi,” Seokmin says, as his kelp-colored robes drip onto his porch. “Can I help you?”

“Can I come in?” His voice is all rounded edges and soft tones, and Seokmin can’t help but comply.

He nods, moving to let him pass into the house. His guest makes himself comfortable on the couch as Seokmin goes to pour him a cup of tea. It’s only polite, after all.

When he returns with two cups, his guest has picked up the framed photo of him and Mingyu from the coffee table and is studying it intently. Seokmin sets down the drinks as they fall into silence, disrupted only by the sound of waves breaking against the shore coming in from the window.

“I suppose this is him, then.” His visitor finally says.

“Hunh?”

“The one you come down to the water’s edge every night for.”

Seokmin squints. “I’m sorry, who are you?”

“Xu Minghao,” he says. “I suppose you could say I’m a nymph.”

“That’s... nice,” Seokmin says. Maybe he should call the police, but he doesn’t know if they’ll get down to the beach before this clearly-deranged stranger kills him. 

Minghao sets down the picture. “You don’t believe me.”

“No shit,” Seokmin starts to say, but the stranger cuts his words off.

“What do you want to dream of, tonight?”

Seokmin stares. 

“I’ll prove my status to you. You live near enough the sea that I can do this.”

“A big, red dog,” Seokmin says, half-sarcastic. Minghao laughs.

“Done,” he says. He puts down his cup of tea and makes for the door. Seokmin doesn’t stop him, still confused about what had just happened. 

“I’ll see you again,” Minghao says, and then he’s gone, no trace that he’d even been there left behind.

  
  


That night, Seokmin dreams of a red retriever, licking his face in a field of green. Mingyu’s there, smiling like Seokmin hasn’t seen him in a long time as the puppy jumps him too. There’s a flash of green in his periphery, but when he turns to look it’s gone. Just him, Mingyu, and the dog.

* * *

_ Write back and tell me, what color is the sea today? How do the waves feel, knowing they can be with you while I can’t? I can only picture them in my mind’s eye as unfeeling grey, a silent shade that reveals nothing. Or a melancholy blue, but maybe that’s just because of how much I miss you. _

* * *

Seokmin goes down to the water the next day, like he does every day.  _ The waves are teal and steel-blue, Mingyu, _ he writes later.  _ The froth is white, like baby’s breath, or like soap lather when you rub your hands together enough. _

He goes about his chores, sweeping sand from the porch and wiping down the shelves. He pauses for a moment outside Mingyu’s door while he’s mopping, but doesn’t dare go in. 

When the sun starts to set, he hears a knock on the door. He sets down his phone where he’d been watching an only-mildly-interesting video to answer the door.

Xu Minghao stands at his doorstep, and the setting sun makes his hair glow, sunkissed.

“I got your dream,” Seokmin says. “I think I believe you, now.”

“Good,” Minghao says, coming in. 

Seokmin pours him another cup of tea, and they sit down, mirroring the previous night.

“Who is he,” Minghao says. “The one you come down to the water for.”

Seokmin hesitates. 

“It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me,” Minghao says, and Seokmin smiles. Instead, they talk about the coming monsoon and a seafood place they both know, until the digital clock on the table shows 22:22 and Minghao is standing.

“Tell me, Seokmin,” he says at the threshold. “What do you want to dream of, tonight?”

“A concert,” he says. “Where the orchestra plays the music of the sea.”

“Done,” Minghao smiles, and disappears in a flash of green.

* * *

_ The nurses here tell me that if I press the conch shell you gave ma against my ear, I’ll be able to hear the music of the sea. It sounds like it’s crying, from here. Write back and tell me, Seokmin, when the waves recede, do they steal the gold of the sand home with them? When the water kisses the shoreline, does it promise to come back? I’d like to think that’s the whispering sound I hear, when I listen to the conch shell. Me promising you I’ll be back. _

* * *

Evening after evening after evening, as the sun sets Minghao knocks on the door, and Seokmin makes him tea. They talk about everything and anything - Minghao tells him about undersea politics, and Seokmin talks about his job trading stocks. They don’t touch the subject of Mingyu, or the stack of letters in the box next to the coffee table, or about why there’s only one little house along the coast. And when the clock shows 22:22, Minghao asks him,  _ what do you want to dream of, tonight? _ and smiles and leaves.

And Seokmin finds himself looking forwards to dusk, and casual talking turns into flirting turns into kissing, and at the end of the night Seokmin answers Minghao with _you,_ _i only want to dream of you._

“I love you,” Minghao responds, and stays past 22:22, into the next morning, and Seokmin never wants him to leave. He tells him about Mingyu, finally, and months later they clean out his old room, sneezing at every cobweb and laughing at one another.

That night, Minghao sleeping soundly in his bed, Seokmin writes one last letter to Mingyu.

_ The color of the sea is sapphire and cerulean, and gold when the sun hits it. The waves break against the shore like the world bursts into new day.  _

_ Goodbye, Mingyu. I wish you were here to love the sea as I do. We’ll meet again one day. _

_ Love, Seokmin. _

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> based on this song bc i grew up listening to it a lot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLk61pfiHQ0&list=TLPQMjgxMTIwMjCWXQdBTc_TaQ&index=6


End file.
